Gauteng hotline meets a dire need

Presidential Hotline

A "dire need" for residents to have contact with their provincial government has led the Gauteng Provincial Government to launch its own Premier's Hotline last month.

Gauteng residents can now take up issues directly with their provincial government through the recently launched Premier's Hotline. The idea behind the hotline was informed by statistics from the Presidential Hotline, which showed that the majority of calls logged nation-wide came from Gauteng.

This meant that Gauteng residents were in dire need of direct contact with their government at provincial level, said Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, adding that this platform would enable residents to "escalate matters easily".

Service delivery

Speaking at the launch of the hotline in Soweto, Mokonyane said the hotline would focus on improving service delivery by providing accurate, reliable and timeous information to the residents of Gauteng on all services rendered by government.

Residents will also be encouraged to send opinions and recommendations, which will be used to improve service delivery. Mokonyane described the launch of the hotline as one of the milestones in government’s efforts to improve communication with Gauteng residents.

She assured residents that the hotline was not aimed at replacing the provincial government’s outreach programmes, but at enhancing contact with the people.

Test period

After a trial launch of the provincial hotline in March last year to test the system, 95 000 calls were handled. Issues ranged from housing, electricity cut-off and installation, the billing system in municipalities, fraud and corruption, among others.

The premier said 70 per cent of the calls logged were resolved at provincial level, while 30 per cent were resolved at departmental and municipal level.

With 70 trained call centre agents, residents will be able to get a response within 72 hours.  The call centre will operate between 7 am and 10 pm.

Mokonyane urged residents to provide detailed information for consistency and improving response time.

Call the Gauteng Premier’s Hotline on 0860 428 8364